Street values

[JadeFeather]

Hi
We have been looking at properties recently and I'm struggling to understand why some streets have lower values than others. Sometimes I've seen houses of similar size and condition have a price difference of around 50k. I've looked at things like location, transport links and schools but there's very little difference so I'm at a loss to understand why some streets seem to have lower values than others? I put in an offer for a property in line with another one that sold recently on the same road but it was just rejected. Just seen another one which is slightly (4 mins ) closer to station and it's 75k more than the one I put in an offer for. Don't understand!

I think it's easier to understand when proximity to a local amenity is a factor: a shorter walk to and from the station every day has a value.

Is a 4 min walk rather than an 8 min walk to the station really worth 75k? Obviously it's worth something I just didn't think that much!

It's all about what the estate agents value it at or whAt the vendor insists they market it at. Can make a huge discrepancy in houses very close and similar to each other. So can be unrelated to proximity to amenities, condition of house etc. Some agents/ vendors just greedier than others IMHO.

What's odd is that the one that's 75k more is under offer whereas the one that we put in an offer for has been on the market for some time. We think the vendors for the one we put down an offer for are being greedy if we look at other properties on the same road but if we look at other road in the area we wonder whether it's actually not bad.

There's no logic! Have you bee inside both so can see any difference there?

A house is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.

The current house I live in was on the market for 3 months and I paid 25% under asking which I think is the correct price. Could that be the problem?

I'm originally from London so 3 months on the market is ages for me. All properties I've bought have been bought/sold within a fortnight.

Some people aren't in a rush to sell so can afford to overprice and wait it out. I bought from a woman moving in with her partner so she wanted a quick sale.

Does the postcode change? Certainly in London that can have this sort of dramatic effect...

So really it's difficult to know whether to base the offer on what property has sold for on the same road or property prices on other roads nearby.
Not much difference between the two really. Both unmodernised but spacious 3 beds near good schools and the station.
Does the fact that a property is double fronted make a difference to the price?

If you're talking those sort of price differences, I assume you are in London or another equally ridiculously-priced location. In my neighbourhood, the houses do look really similar to the untrained eyes but, being Z2 London, a matter of metres will make the difference to your child definitely not getting in, being borderline or being outright rejected from two very desirable primary schools. There are also certain streets that look exactly the same as neighbouring streets but are far harder to park on because of different resident parking arrangements and one that is a notorious rat run which I wouldn't dream of living on. Then there is the street that, again, looks like many others but has an extra 20' of garden (but only on one side of the road) and those that are fractionally closer to the commons. I could go on. To the uninitiated, the houses may look very similar but I can guarantee that anyone who has lived there for longer than a few months will be well aware of the local housing caste system and also know exactly where they sit within it.

Also school catchments have a massive effect on house prices - and that can even be split by the road. One side of the road is "in", the other side of the road is "out".

Other things like leasehold v freehold (even for houses), house busy the road is, parking, scope to extend (particularly if it comes within parish boundaries etc, whether there is nearby land which might be developed, and then all those intangible things like it being "seen" as a desirable road.

Sorry lala, x post!

Yes it's in London. Postcode remains the same. With the schools, all 6 schools within about a mile are very good. The nearest not great school is about a mile away. I don't have kids so don't know much about the schools situation except that it's very bad! I guess I will have to try to figure out why the difference in price, if in fact there is a reason!

What previous posters have said:

School catchment - don't just go by the estate agents/ rightmove, check the LEA docs carefully.

Garden size

Parking arrangements

Backing into railway / highway?

Anything grim happen on that street?

Proximity to council block?

Any non-resi shops etc on the street? Any HMOs? Multiple slightly run-down houses?

Double v single fronted?

It's on the map for one of the very good schools but it's close to the edges. I guess if allocations are shrinking then that could be an issue later. Hmmmm

Schools a mile away will be outside catchment. Our local good and outstanding schools have catchments of under 500m.

So it's likely that that will be part of the equation in pricing.

possibly council homes nearby? homes that have been subdivided?

The school that's a mile away is the nearest "bad" school. All six schools within a mile are very good. Two are oversubscribed and this street is in the catchment for one of them. The others within a mile are church schools that are also good.

My daughter didn't get into our nearest (not very good) primarys school which is only just over 400m away - less as the crow flies which is how they calculate it now. School distances are unbelievable in London.

What happens if all the schools near you are very good and oversubscribed? They offer you something far away?

You have to look at the oversubscription criteria - but you'll get a place somewhere but may not be close. If you're planning on having children in the next few years, it's worth doing your research. You might find some useful local info on the primary education page.

The property I'm looking at is in the catchment for a very good school but on the border !

Most London schools do not have catchments as such - they have a radius boundary within which your child will usually expect to get a place at that school but that radius waxes and wanes each year (sometimes, a couple of extra sets of twins can make a massive difference to a single-class intake school). So parents start to pay a ridiculous premium to live within metres of the school gate because it comes with a guarantee (or as near as) that their oldest child will get a place.

Actually, on our street the houses on the side we live on have gardens twice the size of those of the houses opposite and although the houses look identical at first glance, our side all have garages and cellars.

Check the last distance offered over the past few years. You'll see a general trend. Last year was a particularly big intake in London - certainly round us, lots of schools saw a dramatic shrinkage of 'catchment' and a few new 'black hole' streets appeared. Check also whether there have been bulge years recently. A bulge year increases the last distance offered in that year, but then you often see the inverse effect 2-3 years later when the extra siblings apply (so if you normally have 60 children, with average 40% siblings in a year, your normal sibling intake would be 24/60. In a bulge year, you'd have an intake of 90, but still only 24 siblings of children already at the school. 2-3 years later, you might expect 40% of your bulge year having younger siblings apply, so 36 siblings applying in an intake of 60).

Obvs these numbers are simplistic and chosen for ease of calculation/illustration only and there may be other factors/criteria, but the point is that you need to look at the pattern over time and also any changes in intake numbers. If the house you like was on the edge of catchment last year, and last year was a bulge intake, reverting to normal this year, chance is your house would be outside catchment normally.

Some boroughs will provide maps on their website showing last distance offered as radius over several years, definitely worth checking.

Thanks! All really useful stuff. I've just checked and as far back as the maps go (2012) this road has been in catchment but right on the edge. Is the government doing anything to address this situation? Pretty unfair that if parents can afford to pay ridiculous sums for houses near good schools they are guaranteed places and those who can't afford aren't!